Senior Director, Cloud Platform and Operations

Hearst•Tampa, FL

About The Position

The Senior Director of Cloud Platform & Operations is a technology leader responsible for transforming how the company builds, operates, and scales its cloud platforms. This leader partners closely with the Enterprise Architecture team to define and execute the enterprise modernization vision, transitioning the company from customer-specific and legacy operating models toward a standardized, cloud-native SaaS platform primarily on AWS. The role balances strategic transformation with operational excellence, maintaining platform reliability, security, and compliance while materially improving delivery speed and developer experience. This is a hands-on, opinionated leadership role for a leader who can drive meaningful change at scale while sustaining high service levels in a regulated healthcare environment.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in infrastructure, cloud operations, DevOps, or platform engineering roles.
5+ years in senior leadership roles managing managers and multi-disciplinary technical teams.
Proven experience leading AWS-based platforms in production at scale.
Demonstrated success driving cloud modernization or SaaS platform transformation.
Strong understanding of:
Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation)
CI/CD pipelines and DevOps toolchains
Containerization and orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes/EKS)
Observability, monitoring, and alerting
Familiarity with SRE principles, DevSecOps practices, and compliance automation.
Strong background in operational excellence, including uptime, incident response, and reliability engineering.
Experience operating in regulated industries such as healthcare or insurance.
Track record of effective partnership with Architecture, Engineering, and Security leaders.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field required.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is a plus, particularly in enterprise or regulated environments.
Master’s degree preferred.
AWS Professional-level certifications (Solutions Architect, DevOps Engineer).
Experience in SaaS product organizations with cloud-native platforms.
Direct ownership of large-scale cloud migrations or platform consolidations.
Experience with FinOps frameworks and cloud cost governance.
Experience designing or operating workloads on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) in enterprise or regulated environments.

Responsibilities

Cloud Platform Strategy & Modernization
Partner with the Enterprise Architecture team to define the cloud platform vision, principles, and multi-year modernization roadmap.
Translate architectural direction into executable platform strategies aligned to AWS best practices and SaaS scalability.
Lead the evolution from customer-specific or legacy deployments toward standardized, cloud-native platforms.
Evaluate and adopt emerging cloud technologies where they provide clear reliability, security, or efficiency benefits.
Implement and improve policy automation to ensure that security and compliance are at the forefront of what we do.
Infrastructure, Operations & Reliability
Own the availability, performance, scalability, and resilience of all production and non-production environments throughout ongoing platform modernization.
Establish and mature SRE and operational excellence practices, including:
Service level objectives (SLOs)
Incident and problem management
Capacity planning and disaster recovery
Lead major incident response efforts and ensure durable corrective actions are implemented.
End-User Platform, Workplace & Facilities Reliability
Provide executive oversight for end-user computing, workplace technology, and facilities technology functions, ensuring they operate as reliable, scalable services for the business.
Partner with the Desktop & Facilities Manager to define service expectations, reliability targets, and modernization priorities across:
End-user hardware and software
Corporate networks and office connectivity
Workplace collaboration and productivity tooling
Core facilities technology dependencies
Ensure office environments, networks, and end-user platforms meet enterprise standards for availability, performance, and security.
Align workplace and end-user services with cloud, security, and identity strategies to deliver a cohesive, secure end-to-end user experience.
Establish clear operational interfaces for incident response, change management, lifecycle planning, and business continuity.
DevOps, Automation & Platform Enablement
Drive adoption of DevOps and platform engineering practices across the organization.
Champion automation-first approaches, including:
Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
CI/CD pipelines
Automated environment provisioning
Self-service platform capabilities
Improve developer experience by delivering reliable internal platforms and “golden paths” that accelerate product delivery while enforcing standards.
Security, Compliance & Governance
Partner with Information Security to operationalize security, policy, and compliance controls as code across platforms and pipelines.
Ensure platforms meet healthcare regulatory requirements (e.g., HIPAA, HITRUST, SOC 2).
Establish governance models for identity, access, data protection, and auditability.
Ensure operational readiness for audits and regulatory reviews.
Financial & Vendor Management
Own cloud operational budgets and implement FinOps and cost-optimization practices.
Monitor and forecast AWS usage, balancing cost, performance, and scalability.
Manage vendor relationships and contracts to ensure reliability, value, and strategic alignment.
Leadership & Organizational Development
Lead a department with several senior leaders and managers, accountable for outcomes across cloud, platform, and workplace services.
Build, mentor, and retain high-performing leaders and technical talent.
Establish clear goals, accountability, and career paths across Infrastructure, DevOps, DBAs, Automation, and Operations.
Foster a culture of ownership, continuous improvement, and operational discipline.